Who is this Guy?

I started my career as—gasp—a COBOL programmer. But don’t hold that against me, it just gives me perspective. I’ve spent much of my time programming in the most popular of the semi-colon delimited languages including C++, Java, and JavaScript.

I work for Redis as a Developer Advocate. Speaking and teaching are something I thoroughly enjoy—the best way I’ve found to monetize my narcissism—and will go to any conference that will have me and that my boss will pay for. I usually speak about technology with a Redis angle but have been known to wander into other topics.

In addition to programming computers, I studied electronics in high school and enjoy building circuits, burning myself with a soldering iron, and programming small hardware devices such as the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi. No one has actually paid me to do this sort of work. Yet.

It was inevitable that I would develop an interest in amateur radio. My base station is a Yaesu FT-991A with a Tram 1480 for VHF and UHF work and a homemade 9:1 unun with a 35.5’ random wire. I have a cheap Baofeng for portable use. I enjoy digital modes. My callsign is W8GUY and you can reach me on Winlink if that’s your jam.

Outside of tech, I’m a hard-boiled geek interested in role-playing games, science fiction, and fantasy. I also have a slightly less geeky interest in history and linguistics and an even less geeky interest in camping and bushcraft. I watch way too many YouTube videos on all of these topics.

I live in Ohio with my wife and high school sweetheart—they’re the same person, just to be clear. We have three adult sons—Eagle Scouts, all of them—who visit regularly and are big nerds each in their own way. I couldn’t be prouder.